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A Nevada teachers’ union has filed a lawsuit to block the Oakland A’s in their efforts to build a new stadium in Las Vegas.
The lawsuit, filed by the Nevada State Education Association against the state of Nevada, Governor Joe Lombardo, and Treasurer Zach Conine, aims to revoke the $380 million in public money granted to the baseball franchise in a bill passed last year.
This is the second time a political action committee related to the Nevada State Education Association (NSEA) has attempted to thwart the stadium funding bill, The Athletic reports.
“This litigation continues our work to support public education and oppose the diversion of public money for private or corporate use,” political action committee Strong Public Schools Nevada said in a statement.
The teachers’ union claims that the bill violates the state’s constitution because it passed with a standard majority vote rather than the required a two-thirds majority vote in Nevada’s Assembly and Senate.
They also claim that the stadium funding bill will cause the state to wrongly assume debts from Clark County (where Las Vegas is located).
“This is around the A’s and (owner) John Fisher’s efforts to get the financing for the balance of the roughly $1.1 billion dollars that he needs to put together,” said Chris Daly, the NSEA’s deputy executive director for government relations. “We’re doing everything we can to make the road harder for them. Because our ultimate goal is to fund Nevada schools, and we think SB1 and the stadium deal goes in the wrong direction.”
The Oakland A’s were not specifically named in the lawsuit.
The teachers’ union previously attempted to halt the funding by requiring it to be brought to a public vote. A court rejected that attempt, but they are still appealing.
The biggest hurdle for the teachers’ union should they eventually win that case would be acquiring more than 100,000 signatures by June, which Daly estimates will cost at least $1 million.
Barring these and any other legal challenges causing a delay, the A’s plan on moving into their new stadium on the Las Vegas Strip in 2028.